St. Mary Magdalen follows the non-public school standards as established by the state of Louisiana and the policies of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.  The primary goal of the curriculum is to provide learning experiences most conducive to instilling in students virtues, knowledge, understanding and skills necessary for the students’ spiritual, intellectual, social, cultural and physical development. SMM is committed to educating the whole person through a progressive curriculum and creative learning processes, including enrichment programs and cooperative learning.

Academic Programs of Study

Religious Education

The religion program at St. Mary Magdalen is the heart of our curriculum. It provides opportunities for all students to experience the Christian message through daily religion classes, Eucharistic celebrations, prayer services, sacramental preparation and service to others.

Early Childhood

Pre-kindergarten is a developmental program within the total school.  The pre-k classes are planned to meet the formal and informal developmental needs of young children.  From these needs stem teacher-directed and student-directed activities.

The kindergarten program continues the developmental process and begins building a foundation for basic skills of reading, writing and math.  It is also a time fro social adjustment and an introduction to school life.

Grades 1-4

The core curriculum in grades 1-4 is a continuous developmental program of religion, language arts, math, social studies and science. Through varied teaching methods and the use of hands-on materials, students are engaged in the learning process and encouraged to develop a solid understanding of the concepts presented.

Middle School

The SMM Middle School (grades 5-7) is an educational response to the needs and characteristics of youngsters during their early adolescent years and, as such, addresses the full range of intellectual and developmental needs of pre-adolescents and adolescents.  The middle school curriculum offers a variety of courses and activities that respond to the students’ needs.  Language arts, math, social studies, science and religion classes are departmentalized.

Activity Classes

The students are provided opportunities for enrichment through weekly activity classes in art, music, Spanish, computer and physical education.  In addition, all students attend scheduled weekly library sessions as a component of their reading classes.